Two days ago (January 7, 2008), I am officially Justin’s mommy. Let me make that clear. Biologically, I am Justin’s mommy, but he doesn’t call me that term, not just yet, anyway.

Last October 2007, after I finished putting all of my son’s pictures in his first photo album, we asked him to name a few people in some of the pictures. When we pointed to my picture, he said “mommy,” to my delight, of course. But when we pointed to me in person and asked him, “Who is this, Justin,” he won’t say the same. So, the “mommy” word is just a spur-of-the-moment” thing. Sigh!

It was a different story, though, in November, as mother and son got to be really close. You see, Manang (Justin’s yaya and our house companion) had to go home to the province. This left me as the sole caretaker of my son. We really had great bonding moments, Justin and I. It was during these 13 days that he finally had an official term for me—“mee-mo.” I thought that was cute and quite unique, so I forgave my son for that slight slip of the tongue.

Finally, on January 7, as my opening statement goes, my son Justin officially called me “mommy.” It felt wonderful hearing him say that. And why not? He’s been saying “Daddy” for several months now. Why not “Mommy”? Talk about being jealous, huh! I’m still relishing this brand-new development in my son’s treasure trove of spoken words. Can’t wait to hear more from him.

Like most first-time moms, I made a journal of my son Justin’s monthly progress for his first year. This included not only what he was able to do each month, but other significant details, such as when he had his “infant measles,” when he was hospitalized first, etc. I hope he appreciates this when he grows up.

1st Month
Could lift his head
Could turn his head from side to side
Could roll to his side
Could hold on to Mom’s/Dad’s fingers
Could spit milk from his mouth
Could kick and shake fists when upset
Could snort

2nd Month
Could respond to people
Could push bottle away from mouth
Could lie flat on his stomach

3rd Month
Could open/close his hands
Could ride his walker
Was fascinated with letters

4th Month
Could stick out his tongue
Could shout when upset
Could identify his fingers and feet
Could shift from prone to supine position and back
Started to enjoy bath time
Was hospitalized for bronchitis

5th Month
Could wiggle his toes
Was fascinated with hair

6th Month
Knew how to hold hands
Knew how to shake hands
Could sit using one hand as support
Could differentiate between nose and mouth
Started eating cerelac, mashed vegetables and congee.

7th Month
Could sit without hand support
Could stand up on his playpen holding on to its rails
Could move his head forward as an act of kissing one’s hand
Could clap hands
Was fascinated by certain TV commercials
Could do a high-five
Could grasp object using both hands
Started on full diet
Had “roseola” or infant measles
Two lower teeth started showing

8th Month
Could shake his playpen like crazy
Learned how to kick
Could turn 360 degrees while sitting on your lap

9th Month
Could hop from one side of his playpen to the other
Could grasp an object with one hand
Could point using his finger
Could identify the letter “o”

10th Month
Had five teeth
Fell from bed and underwent CT scan (turned out okay)

11th Month
6th to 8th teeth started appearing
Could make more use of his fingers

12th Month
Celebrated his first birthday at Jollibee Shangrila Mall. By this time, he already knew Jollibee, so he wasn’t afraid when the mascot made an appearance in his party. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Last year went by so fast I could hardly catch my breath and take in everything that happened. First, I switched job around the second quarter of 2007, which meant more responsibilities, more pressure, and more headaches. Second, we had two hospitalizations in the family: my mother suffered a mild stroke in May just a month after my father-in-law was confined for enlargement of the heart and water in his lungs; he finally succumbed to heart attack in December. In short, it didn’t really feel like Christmas at all, with the year marked by a series of unfortunate events.

However, it didn’t really seem all that bleak for us in 2007. We celebrated our son’s first birthday in July, a joyous occasion to celebrate the life of a miracle baby. That, in itself, compensated for all the mischances of the past year. That’s one wonderful thought good enough to lift everyone’s spirits, mine at least. So, belated Merry Christmas, everyone, and here’s looking forward to a more abundant and a really prosperous New Year!

I have recently been paying attention to my son Justin’s verbal language. As a matter of fact, I have been keeping a list of them when I thought of writing this article. At one year and three months, I realized he’s such a fine imitator of spoken words.

I think the first word he uttered was “baba,” from a TV commercial he grew very fond of. That ad showed a child with his mom in the grocery and the child pointing to the low-priced product, hence the catch phrase “baba” for “mababang presyo.”

The next word he spoke was “ate” (older sister). There are kids in the building where we live that are a lot older than my son. They are mostly girls and they usually play with him, and we often tell Justin to address them as “ate.”

Then, he was able to say “Daddy.” I wished I noted the date when this happened. To date, this remains to be one of his most repeated words. He usually calls his Daddy nonstop when he sees him out of the bathroom freshly showered. He knows his Daddy is about to leave for the office. Justin never leaves his Daddy’s side from the time his Daddy leaves the bathroom to when he’s about to head to the work place.

“Shoes” is definitely one of Justin’s frequent utterances. He goes out of the room and plays with the kids in the hallway or just have a leisurely walk or some bonding time with Mommy or Daddy or Manang, our house companion. So “shoes” are definitely one of those things he uses most frequently on a day-to-day basis, which explains his familiarity with them.

The first letter he was able to speak was “E.” Anytime he spots any letter of the alphabet anywhere, he calls it an “E.”

The first number he was able to identify and voice was “2.”

The rest of the words that he can articulate so eloquently are as follows: me, up, eyes, wow, “dede,” “tayo,” see-saw, coco (for Coco Crunch), “aw-aw,” “wee wee,” “susi,” cat, taxi, and fish. He surprised us one time when out of the blue, he uttered “kain tayo”; he never spoke those two words again; it must have been just a spur-of-the-moment thing. And the runaway winner is the five-syllable E-I-E-I-O from the classic nursery rhyme “Old McDonald Had a Farm.”

I’m looking forward to the day when Justin finally speaks the word “Mommy.” That will certainly be music to my ears. Until then, I’ll be jotting down more of what will come out of my little babe’s mouth.